Selective Feminism

For John, BLUF:  Including in our own partisan General Court.  Shame!  Shame!  Shame!  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The anti-woman violence feminists are afraid to confront

From The New York Post, by Ms Ayaan Hirsi Ali, 24 May 2018.

She knows of what she speaks.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Immigration—The Elites vs the People

For John, BLUF:  And the majority of voters dislike "chain migration".  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Shock poll: Americans want massive cuts to legal immigration

Here is the sub-headline:

Cutting chain migration even more popular than legalizing Dreamers

By Reporter Stephen Dinan, of The Washington Times, 22 January 2018.

Here is the lede plus one:

A government shutdown is in the rearview mirror, but the outlines of a looming immigration deal remain murky with the sides still far apart — though the latest polling suggests President Trump’s bargaining position may be strong.

A Harvard-Harris poll taken in the run-up to the shutdown found Americans strongly support granting citizenship rights to illegal immigrant Dreamers.  But they also back Mr. Trump’s three demands for a border wall, limits to the chain of family migration and an end to the Diversity Visa Lottery.

Most striking of all is the public’s demand for lower overall legal immigration — a position that has little traction on Capitol Hill but one that is overwhelmingly popular across the country.

This is a hot topic these days.  In fact, Professor Walter Russell Mead had an OpEd in The Wall Street Journal, Monday, the 22nd—"Immigration Is Still Radioactive".  The sub-headline is "A debate between naive elitism and ugly nativism only impedes pragmatic reforms."

Using terms like "naive elitism" and "ugly nativism" are not helpful, especially the last term, which is particularly ugly. : It is like "former Nazi", from which there is no hope for reform  In the mean time this is a problem that is crying for a new analytic approach.

For example, what do the sociologists tell us about the loading factor.  How many immigrants from different cultures will it take to tip us politically or economically away from what works for us, from what makes us attractive to emigrants from other nations?  Or even creates emigration pressures?

For the political scientists, how much assimilation do we need for incomers to understand our political system and work within it.  Based on Cambodians living in Lowell, or Portuguese, this doesn't seem like a big deal, but is it?♠  There have been questions about how Somalis have settled in in the US.♥

The other thing that strikes me is how easily some sweep illegal immigration up into immigration as a whole, ignoring the issue of the adverse impact of scofflaws.  If you came in illegally, why would you conform to other laws about citizenship, or drivers licenses, or other things?  Further, allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the country may work against our understanding of the legitimacy of refugees, who are a whole other category.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff
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♠  Why the references to the Lusitanians?  Because Portugal was, up until 1968, a dictatorship under Salazar (from 1932 to 1968).
♥  I am amazed that the best known Somali in America, here via the Netherlands, Ms Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been tagged as a right winger, because she is opposed to FGM.

Hate Group Errors

For John, BLUF:  I guess we just have to use our own common sense to sift through all the groups that claim to protect us from bigotry and hate.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Southern Poverty Law Center Scam

A "hate group" list loved by the media is bogus.

A summary of a POD Cast from Reason, by Reporters John Stossel and Maxim Lott, 16 January 2018.

Here is the lede plus one:

There are dangerous hate groups in America. So a group called the Southern Poverty Law Center promises to warn us about them. They release an annual list of hate groups in America.

The media cover it, but John Stossel says they shouldn't.  It's a scam.

It lists Ayaan Hirsi Ali—who grew up Muslim in Somalia and suffered female genital mutilation—as an "anti-Muslim extremist." Just because she now speaks out against radical Islam.

I have listened to Ms Ali on TV and she seems pretty reasonable and far from being a "hater".  And, given that she doesn't buy into FGM, it is possible that she is justifiably unhappy with those who do that sort of thing.♠

Then there is the conservative Family Research Council, listed as a "hate group."  that is the group attacked by a shooter, who later told law enforcement that he picked the group because he saw they were on the Southern Poverty Law Center's hate map and he wanted to fight bigots.

And no, they don't list Antifa as a hate group, strangely.  Or not.

The SPLC is just another progressive group that wants to make sure you think the way they want you to think.♥

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Of course, if she is a hater, then so are the rest of us who reject that form of dealing with female sexuality.  One wonders if Mr Morris Dees, the Center's founder, had his own wife and daughters suffer FGM, in solidarity with Somali Muslims?
♥  Think of Lenin or Stalin.

Protecting Young Girls

For John, BLUF:  How much multiculturalism do you want?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Little girls are being ‘cut on kitchen tables’ in Manhattan as FGM grows at alarming rate

I am assuming this is the normal "scare" headline we are used to, but it is concerning.  The article, from the Metro, by Reporter Oliver McAteer, is datelined 19 September 2017, in New York City.

The sub-headline is:

Some practitioners are happy to perform brutal female genital mutilation (FGM) procedures on little girls on kitchen tables in New York City, warns a leading organization.

Here are the first three paragraphs.  Here is a link to a discussion of FGM.

More than 48,400 women and girls in the state of New York are at risk of or have undergone FGM, estimates the Population Reference Bureau.

And the AHA Foundation — a global activist group fighting for an end to violence against women — says these terrifying and brutal procedures are happening right under our noses.

Senior director Amanda Parker told Metro US:  ‘With that number of at risk women and girls from communities where FGM is practiced in the state, with a large concentration in New York City, we are deluding ourselves if we think it’s not happening right in Manhattan.

Shouldn't folks be speaking out?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Freedom of Religion Limit?

For John, BLUF:  Are there any limits with regard to Freedom of Religion?  I would think the "first/nose" theory would apply.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Freedom of religion is being used as a defense in a female genital mutilation case

This is from the relatively new web-zine Circa.  The reporter is Ms Allison Maass and the dateline is 25 May 2017.

Here is the lede plus one.  There is more detail on the defense arguments at the link.

For the first time in 21 years a law making it illegal to cut young girls' genitalia will be challenged, claiming freedom of religion as a defense, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Three people have been charged with cutting the genitals of two 7-year-old girls from Minnesota in February.  The defendants, Dr. Fakhruddin Attar, his wife Farida Attar and Dr. Jumana Nagarwala are members of the Indian-Muslim sect Dawoodi Bohra, located in Farmington Hills, Michigan, outside of Detroit.

The balancing act here is difficult.  There is the freedom of religion issue.  There is the question of granting consent.  There is the question of when a child should have his or her path for his or her adult life chosen, and by whom.  There is the child abuse issue.  And there is the issue of different cultures.

My personal view is that FGM should be illegal in these United States.

It is just my Anglo-Saxon cultural heritage showing through.

Regards  —  Cliff